I’ve spent the last 15 years working for The New York Times, Dow Jones and Forbes, with minor stints at The New Yorker, InStyle and Vogue, among others. I've worked on the agency and corporate side, too, writing mainly for C-level and affluent readers. Fat Cats is drawn from that world—rich people and how they use money, for better and for worse, especially in the areas I care about: horse racing, food sourcing, politics and culture.
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Horse Deaths Won't Stop Production of HBO's "Luck"

The deaths of two horses during production bring unwanted scrutiny to HBO's "Luck" series

Two Thoroughbreds are dead, killed while filming “Luck,” the HBO series about the grim realities of horse racing created by David Milch, executive produced by Michael Mann and starring Dustin Hoffman.

I don’t mean pretend dead, either. I mean really dead as in “suffered-catastrophic-injuries-while-filming-the-first-and-seventh-episodes-and-were-euthanized” dead, according to a story in the New York Observer.

Such fatalities were supposed to be prevented by the involvement of the American Humane Association (AHA). The AHA, which calls itself “the nation’s voice for the protection of children and animals™,” provides consultants to TV and movie production companies employing “animal actors,” according to its Web site.

“American Humane Association’s Film & TV Unit is the leader in the protection of animal actors,” it reads. “American Humane Association assumes the monumental undertaking of providing protection for animal actors and keeps the public informed.”

Here’s how AHA fulfilled that “monumental undertaking” on HBO’s behalf.

Misleading The Public

The AHA certification, that “No animals were harmed” during production is familiar language to frequent viewers of animal programming. Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” carries the certification, for example—a reflection of the lengths to which the horse handlers went to prevent injuries.

Not so HBO, which not only didn’t protect the horses, but couldn’t by virtue of the subject matter, a sport in which 750 Thoroughbreds die per year on racetracks, or two per day according to the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database.

HBO cleverly avoided raising viewer concerns about this during the series—and the pilot and seventh episodes in particular—with a bit of strategic bait-and-switch.

The pilot features a sequence in which a horse “actor” appears to break a leg and is euthanized. In the same episode, another horse in a short racing sequence suffered an actual, severe fracture and was euthanized, according to the Observer.

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Very good article and YES, I have to say that they would by far have done better to be honest and share the truth of what really goes on the the Equine and Racing Industry, it would be far better credited and understood. They really should stick to “Horses died to make this show as they do everyday on racetracks across America. If that bothers you, don’t watch.” People really need to know what goes on instead of the false picture that protects greed and not the horses.

“Horses died to make this show as they do everyday on racetracks across America. If that bothers you, don’t watch.” Vickery, that proposed disclaimer is as good as any, and worth its weight in gold. Too bad that it would have no weight at all, but we’ll hope. The concept of the horse being a disposable commodity is unacceptable and those involved here need to provide us with confidence in their commitment to humane practices. One can not profit from a horse and at the same time fail to be responsible for its well-being. I hope that the profiteers have since taken every possible precaution. Money is the goal, and horses take the physical risk. Yes, horses are accidents waiting to happen, but the public has no confidence in regard to this production. That must be proved by HBO and the parties involved.

I hear that they’ve green lighted a second season—even though “Luck’s” audience was only 1.1 million. Perhaps the negative publicity will do for “Luck” what it did for the shows about the Playboy bunnies and also stewardesses. I can’t even recall their names.

Maybe the best way to deal with these incidents is to use them, as you’re doing, as a lens with which to focus on inhumane racing practices. People are accustomed to hearing about racing injuries and some become numb. One wouldn’t expect that racing for a TV show would be as vigorous and injury-prone as a race for money. How frail are these horses, really? How young? How disabled by prior racing, and how many drugs were they given to enable them to continue running?